by Frank Carey
"Nada, Sheriff. I'm reading no energy signatures. Only a comm signal and a portal signature."
Joslyn looked at Red. "What's the call, Boss?"
I'm going to take Max, Ariel, and Samson on a little reconnoiter. We'll take the Valkyrie’s armored personnel carrier. Your people are rated to fly the Valkyrie and the Storm Chaser, so we'll leave them here in case we need an extraction."
"Or an intervention," Ariel muttered.
Joslyn nodded. "If you don't mind too much, I'll have a couple of drones follow along to keep an eye on things.
"Good idea." She stopped and looked at Samson. "Any memories bubbling to the surface, Big Guy?"
He shook his metal head. "Nothing. Hell, I still don't know what I am or where I come from. I know all sorts of things about the League, yet I have never visited there. I can speak Standard, yet I can't remember when I learned it. According to Max, I have the computing power of a small city, yet I can't figure out this puzzle."
"Don't sweat it. We'll get to the bottom of all this. Joslyn, we're going to head out."
"Good luck and be careful," the sheriff replied as Red led her people into the APC. When the hatch was closed and sealed, the vehicle headed out. It was joined shortly by two drones.
###
Red and Max were in the cockpit while Ariel and Samson prepared the APC's weapon systems for possible combat. Since the trip was short and the way clear, Red slaved the autopilot to the direction finder before activating it. She then turned to her Alue copilot. "Max, can we talk?"
"Sure, Boss, what's up?"
"I want to apologize for ignoring you these last few months..."
"You haven't ignored me."
"Yeah, I have. I know you and Niall were shipmates and good friends, and I never stopped to think about how his death affected you. I really didn't mean to do that, and I'm sorry."
Max reached over and took Red's hand. "Apology accepted, of course, but truth be told, I've just been giving you space to work things out, assuming you're actually working things out."
"Red hung her head. "How can I work out a hole in my soul the size of Earth's moon? I never told him this, but I fell for him the first time I met him." She leaned back in her seat. "I was afraid to commit to a relationship. Too many ghosts." She turned her head and looked at her friend. "I was a fool."
"Commitment is tough as is being a being driven by emotion and logic. The hole may never fill in, but it will become manageable. Remember, Ariel and I are here to help any way we can."
"Thanks, Max. You're a good friend..." The scanner alarm went off, indicating something was blocking their way. They looked out the forward windscreen and brought the APC to a halt. Standing in front of them were several dozen, multi-limbed robots, each packing serious heat. "Max, activate forward weapons."
"Aye, ma'am. That's a lot of robots."
"Yes, it is..."
The intercom activated. "Red, we need you back here," Ariel said with a tinge of fear in his voice.
Red and Max jumped out of their seats ran to the back of the APC where they found Samson standing over Ariel, his body language screaming aggression.
"Hey, Samson, what’s up?" Max asked.
"How dare you come here and disturb me, League scum! What gives you the right to subjugate one of my minions," he said with a female voice.
"Okay... To whom am I speaking?" Red asked while Max quietly walked over to a terminal.
Samson looked at her, his eye shields retracted to reveal red, glowing optical sensors. "I am Mother, and this planet is mine."
"And those bots outside?"
"They are mine. Now, leave."
"Sorry, but we can't do that. Max?"
"Almost finished, Boss."
"Do you know who I am?"
"Mother?"
"You are smart! I would feel remorse for killing you if I had feelings... What just happened?" Samson said in his own voice.
"Max?"
"We're feeding her a fine helping of bullshit in a protected area of the computer's data banks." She took a ping-pong ball-sized object from a drawer beneath the console and handed it to Samson. "This is a hacker ball programmed to block Mother's signals..." The hull rang with projectile impacts.
"Computer, shields up. Weapons to automatic," Red ordered while helping Ariel to his feet. The deck shook from the weapons returning fire.
"Put this in one of your pouches. I think I can give you a more permanent shield when we get back to the office."
"But what happened," he asked as he grabbed a crate of grenades. He grabbed a dozen and shoved them into a hatch that opened in his side.
"Somehow, someone by the name of Mother, took over your systems and overrode your personality. If you were a human, I would say you were briefly possessed." Max explained while putting on a brace of pistols.
"Samson, does the name 'Mother' ring a bell?" Red asked.
"Nope. Is she the one controlling the bots?"
"She's using the same carrier wave that we're detecting from ahead, so I would say yes," Max explained.
"Did I... She hurt anyone?" the bot asked.
"Only my pride," Ariel said.
"Computer!" Status of attackers?" Red ordered.
"First wave destroyed. Munitions depleted. Second wave is emerging from cave entrance."
"Second wave?!" Max exclaimed. "Computer, number of bots in second wave?"
"Wave two is three times the size of the first wave."
"We've got to seal that cave, at least temporarily. Computer! Maintain fire until munitions are depleted. Everyone, let's go seal a cave. Move out!"
CHAPTER EIGHT
The four hit the ground running as the leading bots reached the APC. Since the destruction of the Cube lab module, all weapons on Maeve were equipped with blast emitters which could destroy a bot or render it inoperable. Unfortunately, when the new capability was used, the charge packs depleted twice as fast as when the weapon was used normally. Engineering teams were working on the problem, but until one was found, the charge pack problem was still a problem.
They made their way toward the entrance while bots streamed out of it. Meanwhile, the APC was bringing up the rear as it laid down cover fire. When they got close and most of their power packs were depleted, Red had had enough.
Red shot a bot bearing down on Ariel while Samson tore another apart. She looked over and watched Max jump into one of the bots and use it to shoot the ones around it. "Where the hell's our backup?" Max yelled using the bot's speaker system.
"The sheriff and her deputies are inbound. They're five-minutes out," Ariel yelled.
"Samson!" Red Yelled, "Seal that mine entrance!"
"Sure enough, Marshal," the metal man said as his right hand morphed into a grenade launcher. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled before launching three shells into the opening in the rock wall. There was a deafening explosion followed by tons of stone debris filling the entrance. When the dust cleared, they were alone except for the bot Max was wearing. She appeared as the bot deactivated. "What now, Marshal?"
Red kicked the dead bot, knocking it to the ground. "We go find Mother and finish this."
Ariel slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that before we caved-in the only entrance?"
Red shook her head. "There's always more than one way into a mine. My father worked in a mine, and there are all sorts of ways in. You just have to look for them. Max!"
"Ma'am?"
“Set four centipedes to stealth mode and send them in. We still getting Mother's signal?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Have them home in on it. Once they find her, send two pedes to find a route in that we big persons can use."
"Roger-dodger, Marshal!"
The sound of the SWAT team arriving curtailed further conversation, so Max ran into their vehicle and prepped the centipede-form search and rescue bots for deployment. While Red and Ariel walked over to apprise the SWAT team of the situation, Samson opted to give Max a hand.
"Max, need a hand?" he asked as he walked up the rear ramp.
"Sure, that would be great!" She showed him what to do, then they got to work.
"Um, Max, thanks for the assist back there. You could just as easily have shot me and been done with it."
"I'm not going to shoot you. You're my friend and my teammate. If worse came to worse, either Ariel or I could jump into your internal net and put you to sleep. Anyway, You're a person. You don't shoot people if you can find another way."
"You think I'm a person?"
"We carry on conversations. You make jokes. You help people. You're a person, get it?"
"But I'm mechanical."
"So is Mother. Trust me, no AI or non-AI robot I have ever met had an ego like hers. Only a true sapient being could be that high on themselves."
"Ever meet a mechanoid? I read about them in the League database, but never met one."
"Yes, I met a few. They're silicon-based life forms from the Omega Nebula. Their mobile forms are about your size, but they can grow into destroyer-size ships."
"And they're people?"
"And then some." She finished her pedes, then took the two that Samson had finished and checked them. Satisfied, she handed them back to Samson. "Let's get these outside." On their way out, she grabbed a control gauntlet with which they could monitor the pede's progress. Once they were outside, they set the pedes down, and she sent them on their way.
"Thanks, Max. You're a good friend."
"You're welcome, Big Guy. Now, let's see if these centipedes are as good as the manufacturer claims."
###
The sheriff, and her SWAT Team confabbed with the marshals while they waited for the pedes to sweep the area. A beep sounded from Max's gauntlet. "The pedes have eyes on Mother," the Alue deputy marshal reported. Two pedes are now looking for a way in that we can use."
Red said nothing. She just stared at the cave entrance.
"Marshal, is there a problem?"
"Why was she so intent on killing Niall?"
"Perhaps because he dared oppose her," Joslyn said. "I've come across people like that. If someone offends them, they will go out of their way to show them the error of their ways."
"Boss, what's going on?" Ariel asked.
Red shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking out loud."
Max's gauntlet beeped once more. "The pede found a way in. It's about a mile to the right of the cave in and about a hundred yards up the volcano's slope. It looks like a natural lava vent."
"Let's give this a try, people!" Red said. "Move out!"
###
The SWAT team assembled at the base of the volcano while Max and one of the team members scoped out a route to the second cave entrance. Ariel waited for Red outside their APC. "Red! It's a beautiful day to stop a bot invasion. Could you hurry it up, please?"
"I'm coming, dammit!" she replied. She walked out moments later. "Happy?"
Ariel stopped her and pointed to the scabbard slung across her back. Instead of a sword, it held a heavy duty wrecking bar. "Are you planning on dismantling a house or uncrating something?"
"It may come in handy," was all Red would say in the way of a reply as she stepped past her necrue deputy.
"This is not going to turn out well," he muttered as he fell in behind her.
"Max, what's the verdict?"
"I've mapped out a path from here to the vent. It'll take us twenty minutes to get there. Meanwhile, the pedes will keep an eye out for sentry bots."
"Do the other two pedes still have eyes on Mother?"
"Yes, ma'am. She's in a large gallery with about twenty bots. The room is lit, so she's got a light source and power supply with her."
"I wonder what else she has," Ariel said.
They made their way to the tube entrance, then down the tunnel taking one of the pedes with them, leaving the other to watch the entrance. Following the signals from the two probes watching Mother, the group quietly traveled down the rock-lined corridor while keeping watch for bots or other dangers. Leading the way was Red, a look of determination on her face as she panned her weapon around the tunnel ahead. She had decided to do something, something which could lead to the loss of her job and possible jail time. She didn't care about any of that. All she wanted was to end the pain she had felt since the day she lost Niall--pain she didn't even know was there until now. Now, she finally had a chance to do something about it.
CHAPTER NINE
Niall woke up and saw stars above him, but not the familiar stars of home. It was either dusk or dawn, he couldn't tell. Wincing in pain from one of more broken ribs, he sat up and looked around. Off to his right were the remains of an odd-looking robot. It had been crushed by a large, heavy work table. Around him lay lab equipment and pieces of wreckage. He was sitting on what felt like ground.
"Over here!" someone yelled. "We've got a live one!"
Moments later, something that made the robot look normal swarmed over the equipment, then came to a stop in front of Niall. Behind him followed an Alturan. "He's human," the Alturan said. "Hey, buddy, do you happen to speak Standard?"
"Yes, fluently, I think. Where am I?"
"My name is Ren, and my friend here is Joshua," he said, extending an arm that ended in something hand-like. "Welcome to Shit!"
"Huh?"
"The name of the planet is Shit. Ever hear the saying 'Gone to Shit?'"
"Yes, that sounds familiar."
"Well this is where things go, when they go to Shit. It has something to do with parallel universes and transdimensional gateways."
"So, what's your name?" Joshua asked as he ran a scanner over him.
"Niall..."
"Neal what?" Josh said as he misspelled Niall's first name while typing it into a datapad.
"I don't remember." He looked down at his jacket and saw the name tag and shoulder patch had been torn off.
"What do you remember?" Ren asked
"Running my pickup truck off the road when the planet exploded."
"What planet?"
Neal shook his head. "I don't remember. What I do remember is that I was supposed to meet my family for my birthday party, but something happened. I think they're dead. Hell, maybe I'm dead."
"Then we'd have to be dead as well," Joshua said. "Trust me, we ain't dead."
"What's that thing you're pointing at me?"
"A multipurpose scanner we use to measure things. It shows that you have three broken ribs and a concussion, which could explain your amnesia."
"You mean I banged my head which caused me to lose my memory?"
"That pretty much sums it up," Joshua said as he put the scanner away. "We need to get you checked out at the hospital. Can you stand up?"
Neal nodded, then slowly got to his feet. He looked around and saw several large structures in the distance. They looked like rough-hewn, upside-down pyramids with their tops buried in the ground. Nearby were pieces of wreckage all around them. "What are those things on the horizon?"
"Those are pieces of a planet called Tennosh. They landed here twenty years ago. The smaller one to the right is known as Thorvald."
"Thorvald? It sounds Norse. I wish I could remember who the hell I am..."
"Take it easy, Neal," Joshua said. "The brain is a tricky thing. Considering the condition this wreckage is in, you're lucky to be alive. Your memory will return. Just give it time."
"Neal, do you at least know what you did before coming here?"
"I was a mechanic. My father said I could fix anything. Damn, I wish I could remember what he looked like."
"Take it easy. Look, once we get you checked out, I can introduce you to some people who sorely need a good mechanic. You can keep yourself busy until your memory returns."
Neal nodded. "OK, I can do that." Joshua and Ren led him to a land vehicle parked nearby which they used to drive him back to town and medical attention.
###
"Lwi, hand me a number-3 spanner," Neal yelled down to his Maori fri
end who was helping him reinstall a motor in a forklift.
"Sure, Neal!" the young man replied before throwing his friend the required wrench.
"Thanks." He tightened the final bolt, then closed the engine cover before getting down off the monstrous utility vehicle. "That should do it." He climbed up into the tiny cockpit and pressed the starter button. The propane-fueled engine roared to life on the first crank.
"The gods smile on you once more, friend Neal. Boss Man will be joyous when he hears Matilda purring like a kitten."
"Boss Man has got to stop using unfiltered propane to run Matilda else Matilda will become cranky once more," Neal admonished as he left the cockpit. "Now, get her out of here so I can get to work on my next project."
"I will tell him, my friend," Lwi said with more than a few bows before climbing in the cockpit and driving the forklift out the back door.
Since arriving on Shit, Neal had been working steadily as a mechanic in a shop run by Mathias Hun, a Vaporite from a nearby parallel universe who had arrived on the planet in a large fishing vessel. Unfortunately, the ship didn't fare well when it landed on the hard-packed dirt of the desert surrounding the city. Since it was a total loss, Mr. Hun decided to open a repair shop near the space port. Neal liked the work, and Mr. Hun was a good boss who was both tough and fair.
Neal tapped his earpiece. "Janice," he said to the dispatcher, an elf woman, "send in the next job."
Neal watched as a spaceport tug used to move spacecraft around the port was brought in. On its side was emblazoned the name "Thorvald," meaning it was from the area of the spaceport founded, owned, and operated by the Thorvald family, the same family that lived in and on one of the planet fragments sitting just outside the city. Neal was surprised that they weren't using one of their own shops, but hey, money was money.
"Neal?"
Neal turned and saw a girl standing there. She was human, a little older than him, and wearing a jumpsuit with a name tag which read "Christin Thorvald." Neal stopped and stared as memories flooded his conscious mind. Christin Thorvald was his sister. She died on Tennosh with the rest of his family. Suddenly, he knew who he was, and where he was from, and... He summarily fainted from the psychic shock he was experiencing.
